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+ servings
2 pizza dough balls on parchment paper.

Easy Homemade Pizza Dough

Total Time: 1 day 40 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 292kcal
Author: Shinee
This easy pizza dough recipe is a must-try for light and airy, crisp and flavorful pizza every time! A complete tutorial with step by step photos, video and lots of tips!
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Ingredients

  • 450 g flour Note 1
  • 290 g water cold or room temperature Note 2
  • 1 packet Red Star Platinum Yeast Note 3
  • 10 g extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt

Instructions

To make pizza dough:

  • Add flour in a large bowl and make a big well in the middle of the flour.
  • Pour all the water into the well.
  • Sprinkle yeast over the water. Form a claw with your hand and stir the yeast and water mixture, slowly incorporating flour into the wet mixture and creating a thicker and thicker paste.
  • When the dough is shaggy, stir in olive oil.
  • Once you have most of the dough formed, let it rest for 5 minutes. It'll look pretty dry, but it's totally normal.
  • Now, add salt and knead the dough until smooth.
  • Then turn the dough onto a lightly floured counter and cover with a bowl. Rest for 20 minutes.
  • Divide the dough into 3 equal parts (about 250g each) and knead into smooth balls.
  • Place the dough balls on a cookie sheet, lined with plastic wrap, and cover with plastic wrap. (Alternatively, you may place the dough balls in a plastic container with a lid, or plastic bags.)
  • Refrigerate for at least 24 hours, or up to 3 days. (After cold fermentation, you can freeze the dough balls for up to 2 months. To thaw, place the frozen dough in the fridge overnight.)
  • Remove pizza dough(s) from the fridge 1-2 hours before using and allow it to come to room temperature.

To stretch pizza dough:

  • Dust a counter with a little bit of flour and place a pizza dough ball.
  • Draw an imaginary line about one finger width all the way around the edges. That’s the guideline that we don’t want to cross over for that beautiful round edge, which is called “cornicione”, which means a "frame".
  • Then draw another imaginary line right in the center of the dough ball. Now, press forward with all of your fingertips over the top half of the circle until you reach the border, leaving dimples all over. Turn the dough over, and then press again from the center forward on the other half of the dough. This’s an important step! Pressing the dough with fingertips traps all the air bubbles inside the dough, so the crust is airy and light after baking.
  • Now you can stretch the dough by pulling the dough with your hands, stretching, slapping or throwing up in air. (TIP: If the dough is resisting, your dough might be still cold. Let it rest a bit and try again.)
  • If it’s getting too sticky, get a little bit of flour with only two fingers to dust. You don't want too much flour!
  • It's a good sign if you see lots of bubbles on your stretched pizza dough, that's how you get light and airy pizza crust!

To top and bake:

  • Preheat the oven to 525°F (270°C) or the highest setting. If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven right away.
  • Put the pizza crust on a pizza peel and top it with your favorite toppings. Then slide it onto the pizza stone and bake for 13-15 minutes, or until the toppings are golden brown.

Notes

Yields: Enough dough for 3 10-inch pizza.
Note 1: High protein flour, like bread flour, is the best for perfectly chewy and crispy crust. My go-to pizza flour is this Napoletana "00" flour. The magic of this flour is that it's super fine and helps to stretch the dough nice and thin for that incredibly crisp crust. You may use all-purpose flour, but the crust will be on softer side.
Note 2: Red Star Yeast Platinum yeast is an instant yeast, which doesn't require proofing. You may use active yeast instead, but be sure to proof it first with 3/4 cup of warm water.)
Note 3: The amount of water affects the hydration level of your pizza dough. The higher the hydration, the lighter and crispier the pizza dough. However, it's a little tricky to handle a dough with high hydration. This recipe is written for 65% hydration, which makes easy-to-handle dough that's still produces relatively light texture.
Freezing Instructions: You can freeze the pizza dough balls for up to 3 months. To thaw, place the frozen dough in the fridge overnight. Check out the post for 3 ways to freeze pizza dough.

Nutrition

Calories: 292kcal
Carbohydrates: 58g
Protein: 8g
Fat: 2g
Sugar: 1g
Sodium: 780mg